Africa Oil & Gas: Ghana’s 10-Month Trade Surplus More Than Doubles on Oil Exports

Ghana’s trade surplus in the 10 months through October more than doubled from a year earlier as shipments of crude oil increased.

The West African nation recorded a surplus of $1.7 billion, compared with $731 million in January-October 2017, the Bank of Ghana said in a summary of economic and financial data posted on its website. Crude oil exports increased 66 percent to $3.8 billion.

Other Key Figures
Total exports rose 12.6 percent to $12.5 billion; imports climbed 4 percent to $10.9 billion
Shipments of cocoa dropped 21 percent to $1.7 billion
Gold fell 2.7 percent to $4.8 billion
Ghana’s gross international reserves decreased to $6.4 billion at the end of October from $6.9 billion a year earlier
Loans advanced by banks rose to 41.7 billion cedis ($8.6 billion) at the end of October from 38.4 billion cedis a year earlier
The ratio of non-performing loans dropped to 20.1 percent from 21.6 percent
Read more here about the African cocoa industry
Ghana is the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer. It began producing crude for export in 2010 when Tullow Plc started the Jubilee Oil field.